Blogs from Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, South America - page 10

We left Paraty feeling very relaxed and looking forward to heading into the jungle to see a bit of wildlife. We were a bit cautious having heard that Manaus can be a minefield for trying to book tours without being ripped off. I arranged a room through a hotel website, but told them not to bother with a taxi pick up. After 6 hours by bus to Sao Paulo then bus to airport and finally the 4 hour flight to Manaus we were very tired and it was 11pm at night. The first thing to hit us was the humidity, and the surprise at seeing my name on a cardboard placard. I had no doubt we were in for an expensive cab fare. Anyway it turned out alright, only the hotel did not have our booking ... read more

Greetings from the final South American County I will visit on this trip, Brazil. I have now just over 3 weeks in South America and given that Brazil is the largest country on the continent its going to be a rushed highlights package for me as I hightail it down to Sao Paulo to fly to Canada. Yesterday I flew from Tabatinga on the Brazillian side of the Brazil - Colombian border to Manaus, deep in the Amazon rainforest and a major port city of nearly 2 million, despite the fact it is over 1500km from the sea. The flight over the Amazon was spectacular, a sea of green forest, with the huge river and its tributories cutting through it. Im in Manaus to catch the boat to Belem on the north coast of Brazil, its ... read more

Before I start with Manaus, yesterday we visited a tiny isolated village along the river called Boca Da Valeria. There are thousands of these along the river, and every time we pass one everyone runs out and waves at us. The people that live here are called ribeirinhos or river dwellers and they live off the resources of the rainforest and the river. There were only a dozen or so modest wooden homes in the town, and a tiny school. There wasn't a lot to see here, but this was the real Brazil, nothing designed to entertain tourists here. You could tell that the boat had passed through this town quite a few times before, they all had monkeys and birds, and there was even a capybara, the worlds largest rodent ready for us. The reason ... read more

Arrived in Manaus at 2.00am. I didn´t particularly want to hang around here as I had visited the Amazon before and was keen on getting my way to Venezuela ASAP. We hung around the airport for a bit then got a bus with a friendly tourist information guy. He pointed us in the direction of the main bus terminal, so we made our way there as I belived there to be an early morning bus. It turned out the bus to Santa Elena in Venezuela was at 6.00pm, so I had a little kip at the bus station then went to the HI hostel with Rodrigo and pretty much spent the day walking around Manaus, until I had to catch my bus to Venezuela.... read more

Hi all, an update on our travels so far! After the early morning start to the airport on Saturday, all was going well. The plane was on time, I was having a lager with my breakfast to steady my nerves and we were called forward to board the plane. We taxied down to the end of the runway, my nerves were jangling awaiting take off when the Captain said 'we have a small technical problem and so I am going to have to return to let the engineers check it out'. It didn't inspire me with confidence! However, it was quickly resolved and we got under way. The flight was 11 hours almost all over the sea. We arrived in Manaus at 6pm local time (10pm UK time) and then took another 2 hours before we ... read more